


Fractured

by CompletelyDifferent



Series: Steven Universe One-Shots [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Loss of Identity, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-03-19
Packaged: 2018-03-18 13:49:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3571967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CompletelyDifferent/pseuds/CompletelyDifferent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They used to be someone, or someones. Maybe they had been Emerald, or Topaz, or Amber, or Turquoise, or someone else altogether. Not that it matters now. Even they don't know anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fractured

Sometimes, they remember.

It's triggered by small things, different each time- a stray scent, or sound, or sight, something which causes a flash of familiarity. It's like an electric shock, and suddenly, they're in another place entirely- another time, another body- standing upright, and walking with purpose, not just meandering. What purpose? They had a plan, or plans, they had  _desires_ , they had a  _name, or names_ -

What names?  _What names_? They're not sure, they're never sure, because it's always just beyond their grasp, and before they can maybe catch it, hold onto it, it slips away, all of it, and it's all gone, leaving behind only confusion and this kind of numb  _anger_ -

And they roar and roar and they tear up the trees for that unknowable thing they have lost.

Then they go on with their life, or what's left of it.

They wander, over mountains, past trees, through streams. Sometimes, they snap at passing wildlife, just for the entertainment- there's satisfaction, feeling bones crack between massive jaws, then tossing the body aside with an easy swipe of a paw. Sometimes, when there's nothing else to do, they sleep, sometimes for years at a time. They do not dream. It goes on like this for centuries. 

Eventually, they're attacked.

It's their own fault, though of course they don't know that. They don't know that they wandered too closely to a human encampment, brought attention to themselves. All they know is they're being attacked, and that these beings ( _Gems_? Some dim part of their mind recalls)- that these beings are  _hurting_  them. So they fight back, roaring and clawing ferociously, but their assaulters are fast, jumping and dodging out of the way, then attacking again, relentless. They try their best, but they're outnumbered, and they have no concept of strategy. There's the sharp sting of a whip- a furious punch which pounds them into the ground- and then finally, a terrible, bright pain as a spear is plunged straight into their flesh-

\- and  _poof_ , they're gone.

The pair of gemstones fall to the ground with two dull thuds. They're bubbled, and sent on their way to hang silent and dormant in the heart of the Temple.

Maybe, if they could remember, they'd say it was better this way. 

**Author's Note:**

> Anybody else wonder what kind of twisted kind of existed the corrupted Gems must lead? I did, so I wrote this short, vague piece about a corrupted fusion.


End file.
